USA > Ohio > Montgomery County > Memoirs of the Miami valley > Part 75
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The swimming pool and shower baths are largely patronized, as are the reading and billiard rooms. Formerly there were evening classes in business courses, with practical talks by Piqua experts, but this need is now filled by the high school. There are 800 mem- bers, including 200 boys, and at least 500 take advantage of the physical culture department, in summer the tennis court finding particular favor. The change from the crowded quarters over the postoffice at the time of its organization, to the present well-equipped building, is great, and too much cannot be said of the loyal men who have put their shoulders to the wheel and placed the organiza- tion in the position where it now stands, the women of Piqua, too, have ever been ready to help. Religious work is developed through Bible classes for the various groups, and personal interviews with the members, and factory meetings, these in co-operation with the Ministerial association.
Two officials of the Piqua Y. M. C. A. gave up their duties there for the greater service of the War Y. M. C. A., the general sec- retary, Mr. W. V. Hayes, who became general secretary at the Wil- bur Wright Aviation field, early in the World war, and Physical Director Harry J. Gould, who was stationed at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, and at other Southern military camps in the same capacity.
The late George H. Rundle was ever the faithful friend of the Y. M. C. A., helping with his money and by his enthusiastic belief in the cause, to tide it over many a hard place. As recreational features, the Y. M. C. A. picnics, given yearly at the Rundle farm, are a source of great pleasure to the members. Allen G. Rundle is president of the Board of Trustees, Mr. Harry D. Hartley chairman of the Board of Directors, T. P. Pearman is the general secretary since February, 1919; Mr. Norman McDonald, boys' secretary, and R. L. Westerman, physical director. A company of men known as the "Boosters" have secured remarkable results in campaigns for money for the Y. M. C. A.
The annual summer camp for the boys is always looked for- ward to with enthusiasm by them, and each year enrolls a larger
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number. Camp activities include morning devotional exercises, camp-fire talks, swimming, hiking, social stunts, and Sunday meet- ings. The boys' headquarters is equipped with reading matter, games, etc., and is located in the finest room in the Association build- ing. A standing invitation is issued to the boys and young men of Piqua to affiliate with the association and enjoy its benefits, and all are made welcome.
Knights of Columbus
Piqua Council, No. 1094, Knights of Columbus, was instituted in this city, February 25, 1906, with a charter membership of fifty- four. The officers chosen for the Charter Class were :
Grand Knight, George M. Benkert; Deputy Grand Knight, Leo Thoma; financial secretary, August I. Clouse; treasurer, Geo. M. Peffer. At that time, the G. A. R. hall on North Main street was rented for meetings of the Council, later club rooms were secured in the present Piqua Daily Call building, where meetings and other gatherings were held. A steady growth of the Council has brought the membership above 200 and another class of possibly 60 is to be added in the near future. The K. of C. club house on North Wayne street, formerly the Joshua Shipley home, was purchased by Coun- cil in 1918 and is most comfortably equipped. Louis G. Peffer served as K. of C. secretary at Camp Sheridan. August S. Clouse served in the Air Service division at Dayton, Ohio, having been granted leave of absence from his duties as assistant cashier of Piqua Na- tional bank. Present plans of the Council include the building of an Auditorium on the premises of the present K. of C. club house and the work will begin in the spring of 1920. The officers elected for 1920 are as follows :
August S. Clouse, Grand Knight; Joseph C. Vogt, Deputy Grand Knight; recorder, Albert J. Zink; Leon H. Sills, financial secretary ; George M. Peffer, treasurer.
The Memorial Hospital of Piqua. An institution which has proved of the utmost good to the people of Piqua and Miami county as well as many from afar, is the Memorial hospital, given to the city by Mrs. Edward C. Thayer, of Keene, N. H., in memory of her brother, Mr. Delos C. Ball, a resident of Piqua from 1855 until 1870. It was built at a cost of $20,000, dedicated with impressive ceremonies November 30, 1905, and opened to the public December 7, 1905, five acres on Park avenue-the old Park Avenue Cemetery -having been secured.
The building, which faces the south, is of light pressed brick with stone trimmings, and is conveniently located on Park avenue in artistically laid out grounds, the colonial pillars adding dignity and beauty. The main building is three stories high, with wings on either side two stories in height. The administrative offices, reception hall and wards are on the first floor, private rooms, two sun parlors, diet kitchen, etc., occupy the second, while operating, sterilizing, and anaesthetizing rooms and a pathological library for the use of physicians, are situated on the third floor. All are thor- oughly equipped, and the hospital is one of the most complete in the country.
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In 1915 an X-Ray room was installed by Dr. R. D. Spencer and the late Dr. Robert M. Shannon.
Most of the rooms were furnished by individuals as memorials, so are especially attractive, the donors being Mrs. Augusta I. Boal, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Brown, Mr. James R. Duncan, Piqua lodge, No. 523, B. P. O. E., Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Flesh, Mrs. W. H. Geyer, Mrs. John C. Geyer, Mr. and Mrs. A. D. Hance, Mrs. Frances E. Nelson, Mrs. John S. Patterson, Miss Harriet Statler, Mrs. S. B. Warren, Mrs. M. E. Barber, Mr. W. K. Boal, St. Paul's Evangelical church, Ladies' Aid Societies of the Presbyterian and Greene Street M. E. churches. The physicians of Piqua furnished the operating . room. Many of the rooms are in memory of men and women whose names meant much to the history of Piqua, such as Mrs. Mary Langdon Young, Mr. J. C. Geyer, Mr. J. S. Patterson, Mrs. Cather- ine Atkinson Brooks, and others, and a pathological library in memory of Mrs. Thayer. Legacies have also been received from E. R. Farrington, Elizabeth S. Young, Sarah A. Gray, George A. Brooks, Mrs. John Keyt, Daniel Spencer, Robert Patterson and Allen D. Hance. Miss Mary Collins Melville was the first superin- tendent, being succeeded by Miss Elizabeth L. Hatfield, R. N., and she in turn by Miss Dessa Shaw, R. N., the present superintendent, a graduate of the Harrisburg hospital and a registered Red Cross nurse, who assumed the position in 1912. In 1908, during Miss Hatfield's administration, the Memorial Hospital Training School for Nurses was established, and it has been most successful. At first the course was for three years, but in 1916, a four-year course was organized through affiliation with the General hospital in Cincinnati, the nurses completing the course there. October 31, 19II, through the generosity of General W. P. Orr, a most attrac- tive Nurses' Home was turned over to the Trustees. Built and given in memory of General Orr's wife, Mrs. Frances Meilly Orr, a woman of remarkable character, it is a beautiful building, con- forming to the architecture of the hospital and situated to the west of it on the spacious grounds with accommodations for fifteen nurses. The complete equipment of the steam laundry was the gift of the Women's Auxiliary Board. Founded and maintained for the benefit of all classes, the hospital is managed by a Board of Trustees, composed of twelve citizens of Piqua, assisted by a Woman's Auxiliary Board.
The number of cases treated at the hospital the first year was 167, while during 1918-1919, the number was over 700.
The first officers and trustees included Gen. Wm. P. Orr, president ; John H. Young, vice president; Henry Flesh, treasurer ; George M. Peffer, secretary; board of trustees: Gen. Wm. P. Orr, John H. Young, Henry Flesh, George H. Rundle, Robert C. Patter- son, James R. Duncan, W. K. Boal, Daniel Spencer, George A. Brooks, Walter D. Jones, W. A. Snyder, Frank Lange, C. L. Wood, S. K. Statler, and the Mayor of the city, ex-officio. The Women's Auxiliary-at that time called the Board of Lady Managers-Mrs. Charles E. Stuart, president; Mrs. A. Acton Hall, secretary ; Mrs. Kate Y. Leonard, treasurer.
Present officers are: President, C. L. Wood; vice-president, J. R. Duncan; secretary-treasurer, George M. Peffer. Mr. Peffer
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has always been secretary, and upon the death of Mr. Henry Flesh, was appointed treasurer also. Messrs. Wood, Duncan, Young, Peffer and Flesh are the present life members of the Board of Trustees. The officers, and members of the boards, Woman's Auxiliary, and all who have been connected with the Hospital have given devoted service, and it is an honor to Miami county to have so fine an institution in its midst.
The Flood of 1913
With the shrieks of the drowning, the agonized calls for help of those marooned on their house-tops, or in the trees ; with houses lifted bodily from their foundations and pounded back and forth as if the elements were playing battle-dore and shuttlecock; with rain and bitter winds; with black nights that struck terror to the staunchest heart, the 1913 flood will go down in history as the most terrible calamity of Piqua.
Yet it brought forth marvelous heroism, men and women looked into the face of death unflinching, and gave up their lives to save others. More gave of themselves unstintingly, working day and night until exhausted to answer the pathetic appeals that rang out unceasingly over the dark waters.
After it was all over, men and women returned to what was left of their homes, dug out the mud, cleaned and scrubbed; and began anew the battle of life. The waters came suddenly, swiftly, and with so little warning, that few were in the least prepared, many refusing to believe, even when told of the danger, an awful tragedy resulted, with fifty lives snuffed out like candle flame upon a windy night.
Those in the lower districts of Piqua, Shawnee, East Piqua and Rossville, who lived in two story houses, fled upstairs, and then, as the waters followed them, they worked frantically with pocket- knives, curtain poles, nails, anything that they could lay their hands on, to force a hole in the roof, and laboriously pulled each other up to supposed safety, only to have the whole house wrenched from its foundations and float down the river, crashing its way through all kinds of wreckage to, in many cases, be dashed to pieces at the bridges, in plain sight of friends helpless to rescue them because of the rush of the mad waters.
Many remained on the roofs of houses or in trees for twenty- four to forty-eight hours, one family perched on its roof for three days before rescuers could get to them. An old man, living in Rossville, hung in a tree sixty hours, keeping up his spirits the entire time with hymns and prayers and calls for help, was finally rescued by the magnificent heroism of Clarence White, a moulder, whose battle with the waters at a point threatening certain destruction, and where no one else had dared to launch a boat, was watched and cheered by crowds along the shores.
Easter Sunday, March 23, 1913, dawned in Piqua dark and forbidding. Rain had fallen on Saturday, and it rained practically all day Sunday, with high winds and rain in the afternoon. Early Monday morning, the 24th, the rain fell in torrents, and with it came terrific winds that ripped the shutters from their fastenings
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and blew trees about as if they were twigs. The evening papers said the river was booming, and had gone above the nine-foot stage as a result of the rain. "But," they added, "no fear of flood is entertained just now."
So the residents of Rossville began leisurely to move their household goods to safety, but they and those in Shawnee and East Piqua were not particularly disturbed. There had been floods before, but they had never done a great amount of damage and people west of the river did not give a moment's thought to the possibility of the main part of town being flooded, but on that fatal evening went down curiously to view the high water, and some of these sight-seers were caught near the levee in East Piqua when it broke, and in the terrible rush of water, in a moment their lives were blotted out without even the chance for prayer.
Late Monday night when it was found the levee in northeast Piqua was weakening, police and firemen were hurried to the scene, and the riot call was sounded to warn residents in that district. But as one small break was mended, another developed and suddenly the entire wall went down, and the enormous volume of water plunged over, carrying men, women, children, houses, everything before it, in one terrible unrecognizable mass. Men with automobiles and every kind of vehicles, and on foot with ropes and lanterns that had been on hand and five boats had been sent in from the pump house to help those they could to safety. Many who had been offered help refused to leave their homes, so sure were they of their safety, a number of these were drowned, and others were rescued only after unutterable suffering and privation.
The death of Mrs. Louise Hohendorf was particularly sad. She with her family lived at the corner of New and Harrison streets. Five of her nine children were with her and after the water reached the second story, at break of day on Tuesday morning, Dick Morrow and Clarence Hauck came for them in a big boat. The current was so strong that the boat rocked from side to side and soon filled with water, and went from under them before they had gone 100 yards.
Each of them grasped a little pear tree, but Mrs. Hohendorf, who had died in the boat. A man on a nearby roof threw out a rope fastened to a second story window and pulled each one in while they clung to a water spout. Five hours they spent in the tree and all night long the rain poured and thunder and lightning added to the agony. And a day and a night were spent in that house before they were rescued by Mr. Emmett Brush and Mr. Parsons.
The telephone girls saved many lives in Shawnee; while the waters were rising, they stuck to their posts and transmitted the frantic calls for help that came over the wires to police headquar- ters, and men were sent in boats to the rescue, who would other- wise not have known where they were most needed.
One of the first to give his life in the black waters of the flood was Mr. C. B. Jamison, a prominent lawyer and representative Piqua man. Although he had a wife and three children, his own home was beyond the water and he thought them safe, so at the first call for help he went, and with Mr. F. M. Sage, securing a
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boat that black Monday night, went about saving all he could. In an attempt to save a three-year-old child, and a woman, he gave up his life. After he and Mr. Sage got them into the boat, an oar broke and the boat became unmanageable. Another boat came to their rescue, but the first boat was overturned in the current, throwing Mr. Jamison on the outer side of it and on the other side of a tree. Mr. Sage managed to grasp the tree, but Mr. Jamison was carried on down with the terrible rush of waters. For days after the flood had receded, devoted friends searched for his body but it was not until March 29th, that Madison Dye, Dr. W. N. Unkefer and Mr. Alvah W. DeWeese discovered it, covered with mud and with only one elbow exposed, the searchers were attracted to it by the glistening of his Masonic. ring.
Many were the thrilling rescues; heroes were discovered in this time of stress when men's souls were bared to the lime light and there was no place for craven who thought of self.
Of the many heroes, the names of Richard Bateman and Clarence White stand first on the list, while others are Mr. Clark B. Jamison and Mr. T. M. Sage already mentioned, Dr. John L. Crawford, Mr. Edward Pearsons, Emmett Brush, Louis and Edward Neth, George Brucker, John Wagner, Henry Bertling. Police under Chief Price and firemen under Chief Caufield also did heroic work. Dr. L. S. Trowbridge and Miss Marie Penny, a nurse at Memorial hospital, earned undying fame by allowing themselves to be drawn across the turbulent waters from the wrecked Pennsyl- vania Railroad bridge to Shawnee in a pulley swing suspended on a cable to attend the sick over there who could not otherwise be reached, as all communication was cut off with the people west of the river. As the Pennsylvania Railroad bridge was washed out at the east end Dr. Trowbridge went over first, then the nurse who won encomiums of praise for her bravery and splendid service.
Mr. Richard Bateman was afterwards given the Carnegie medal for saving at least 100 lives. He had been a river watchman practically all his life at Lawrenceburg, Ind., and had been in many floods but the one in Piqua was the worst he had ever seen. He was fifty-seven years old, yet he rowed his boat through water running thirty miles or more and through driftwood, roofs, houses, parts of bridges, etc., and the almost superhuman strength he dis- played was beyond comprehension. Clarence White was equally heroic, working two days and a night without food or rest, in the dangerous Rossville vicinity, saving at least 60 men. Both were cheered by thousands on the banks.
To add to the terrors of the days and nights of rain and cold and darkness constant rumors of the breaking of the Lewistown Reservoir reached this city. These continued for almost seventy- two hours and kept the people in a state of panic. With all of eastern Piqua flooded, should another volume of water come from the west, they felt the town would be wiped out completely. Night after night those who could get there, spent on the western hills, the rumors seeming so authentic that Wednesday night, March 26, the Mayor receiving word that the Reservoir had broken, warned the people to take to the hills. Another night when fears had been
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somewhat allayed, a modern Paul Revere on foot with a lantern rushed through the street, throwing open doors of houses, and yelling for the people to flee for their lives, that the Reservoir had broken. And the same frantic scenes were repeated.
But the Reservoir did not break. The great volume of water filled the bank to the breaking point, and although the outlet at the bulkhead was opened to the limit, the level of the water could not be held below the danger point. At the worst the water ran four feet deep over the waste weir during the afternoon of March 25, 700 feet of the low bank north of Lakeview went down, but as the pressure of water there was low, no particular damage resulted.
The heroic work of the residents of that section, the County commissioners, and a detail from the National guards patrolling the banks and working night and day saved the situation. Drift logs in great number were obtained and placed on end inside the embankment, and sacks of sand were laid against them. This was done at a weak place at Russell's Point where the waves were dash- ing over the embankment for a distance of 70 feet. Of the thirty- five men who worked to save the situation three were ministers.
The highest water previously known in Piqua was 411/2 inches in 1898, and in this flood of 1913 it rose to 1801/2 inches, II feet and 7 inches higher than on any previous record. The Shawnee bridge was washed out, the Rossville bridge was impassable and the Penn- sylvania Railroad bridge east end was gone. The water began to fall about I p. m. Tuesday, March 25th, and relief measures were at once begun. In the main part of town the streets had been flooded to Downing street and in some cases to Caldwell on the west. Around the City hall and Hotel Plaza (now Hotel Favorite) people could get around only in boats. The streets were black, many houses with only basements flooded were without heat or light as the electric light plant was flooded, and although the gas company kept going, numbers of meters were under water in the homes. On North Main street people were being taken from the second floors of their homes. The City building was abandoned as it was flooded 5 feet deep and police headquarters established in Masonic hall. All traction lines were crippled and were unable to run in or out of the city. The newspaper offices were flooded but in spite of the fact that its machinery was all under water, all paper ruined, The Piqua Daily Call got out a tiny sheet about 8x10 inches on Wednesday, March 26th, by obtaining job stock from Magee Bros. and W. F. Caldwell's Printing Establishment, and. printing it on a small press at Magee Bros.
Relief headquarters were at once established at the Young Men's Christian association, the Business Men's association, the Y. M. C. A. and citizens generally co-operating. Company C, Ohio National Guard, of Piqua, and Company A, of Covington, patrolled the streets under the direction of the city authorities, placing the city practically under martial law. Piqua was cut off from the out- side world, no mail was received or sent for days. All telegraph and many telephone wires were down. North and South the C., H. & D. (now B. & O.), was crippled-the washout from Sidney to Dayton being almost complete. Bridges and tracks were down on
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both railroads and no trains running, the only possible means of communication being a freight engine to Bradford where one could telegraph.
H. E. Culbertson, in charge of the Pennsylvania railroad ele- vation, gave invaluable service at a most critical time when he placed at the service of the relief committee the only two available engines in the Piqua yards, and he and J. T. Nielson made a trip to Bradford and thence to Union City which resulted in two carloads of provisions being sent here from Union City and Winchester, Indiana.
Prof. George C. Dietrich, superintendent of the Piqua Public schools, came home from an Eastern trip and with difficulty reached Shawnee but could get no further. So he took charge of affairs on that side of the river, and farmers north and east of Pigue supplied Rossville, Shawnee and East Piqua with food.
Citizens rallied to the assistance of the unfortunates in splendid fashion opening their homes, dividing their provisions and their clothes. Relief work was carried on in a most approved and busi- nesslike way. All kinds of garments were brought to the Young Men's Christian association, where the most prominent women of the city, under the direction of Mrs. Emma Fordyce, of the Asso- ciated Charities, remained day after day, sorting, arranging and giving out the necessities of life to those who had lost all. Harry J. Martin, secretary of the Y. M. C. A., was chairman of the Relief committee and John T. Nielson of the Executive committee and later J. T. Jackson of the Red Cross came with a staff of workers to assist in rehabilitation work.
The receding of the waters disclosed a desolation so complete, so heart-rending, that it seemed impossible to believe it could ever be remedied. But the heroism with which men and women met death, now was shown in their learning how to live, and in an in- credibly short time the devastated districts began again to be habitable. March 29th brought another company of soldiers to guard the districts, Mayor Smith with Company M, Second O. N. G., with 39 men and two officers, and were placed in Shawnee, Rossville and the city proper, and Uncle Sam sent shipments of supplies from the Purchasing Departments of the U. S. Army. Word of Piqua's terrible experience was flashed over the United States and even Europe and assistance came from many directions. Governor James M. Cox sent representatives and then came him- self to investigate Piqua's needs.
Of countless deeds of heroism and good works, it is impossible to tell. Factories gave men and teams to go into the wrecked dis- tricts to help clean up the mud and debris, the president and other officers working in hip boots, side by side with their humblest employees, and this was the spirit which prevailed throughout, and enabled those who suffered so cruelly to win out of the darkness of death and destruction into the light of life renewed and hope triumphant. As a local poet put it
"For Piqua, risen from ashes, Shall rise from water's strife;
By fire and flood's baptism She proves her right to life."
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Piqua Chapter of the American Red Cross. On Registration day, June 5, 1917, after a patriotic demonstration in honor of 1,423 of the young men of the city, who had enrolled for their country's service, a most representative and intensely interested company of people met in Greene Street M. E. church and organized the Piqua Chapter of the American Red Cross. J. L. Black presided and Henry Kampf was secretary of the temporary organization.
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